Burning Beast: Deicide
by Legendary 2094
Summary: After two years since his escape, Gray starts to come to terms of his sins and faults. He also starts to regret what he's done. Meanwhile, a hopeful Ruby is determined to find and save her friend from his 'lovers' clutches. But can she? Or is all of this for nothing? Rated M for adult subjects. Sequel to Burning Beast.
1. Chapter 1

Those familiar, yet foreign silver eyes. They were filled with so much fear and relief. All and all those horrifically scared eyes were filled with mixed emotions. When he saw them, something lost its grip. It was like he could think clearly again. However, it came with a price.

Regret, is that what he felt? He had no idea. For a whole year and six months, he had dreams. Dreams of her dreams of the times when all of this didn't start. Even if all of this didn't happen. But, he wasn't dreaming right now. The man laid in his bed, staring at the surrounding darkness. He slowly blinked, listening to the faint, slowed breaths of the woman next to him.

Cinder.

The woman who started it all. She made him be who he was today. She helped destroy his friendship with Ruby. She helped him through his arriving insanity.

Please.

If anything, she helped him come to terms with insanity. What sane person would betray the girl who helped raise him? What sane person would lie, cheat, nearly kill and rape his 'friends'? He was no sane 'person', that's for damn sure.

Cinder put him through good and bad times. She infused Dust into him, made him 'date' Weiss Schnee and then, somehow managed to fall in love with him.

After the Breach, they're time together only seemed to make they're bond stronger, they felt like a 'normal' couple instead of two psychopathic terrorists. The boy never thought that he'd be in love, let alone be in love with the resident maiden.

"Why can't I sleep?" The boy twisted his neck to glance at Cinder. The woman was sleeping with a small, faint smile on her face. The boy sighed and sat up, shaking off his shared covers and sitting upright. He clicked his tongue when he noticed the small faint orange light in the palm of his left hand. He stood and walked out of the bedroom, ignoring the shifting within the bed. Walking into the hallway, the boy rubbed his eye, turning left he stepped out and onto a balcony.

The boy boringly stared out into the city of Mistral. Cinder wanted to flee here while they planned they're new 'objectives'. In the meantime, she'd hide him here. But she wanted to stay like this, content and without causing any more violence… that wasn't the Cinder he met. Mistral was almost like home base for Cinder. She had her own place and everything, it surprised the boy greatly, a perfect place to hide the tyrant maiden and her pet.

That's all he was. A glorified pet. Cinder would say differently.

The boy exhaled, noticing frost leave his lips. He always forgot. Side effects. One of the problems of constantly injecting different types of Dust repeatedly. The injectors that he used were supposed to extract the Dust in his blood in quick succession, however, that wasn't the case and small amounts of Dust flowed within his bloodstream.

The boy glanced at his hand, scanning the light dark appendage. He then closed his hand as if he was holding something small, and watched as the small icicle melted and churned into a small burning fire. He watched the flame flicker and softly lick his hand, acting as the flames kiln. The flame gave a low orange glow that increased and decreased in light.

The boy thought back to Ruby's face on the day he visited her. She seemed so terrified, and to be honest could he blame her? He was a deranged, murderous psychopath when he met her. Now… now he was just a void, sad and pathetic husk of a man. No real goals besides stay alive. 'All I have to live for really is… well…' "What are you doing up?" 'I guess _her_ …'

The boy slowly craned his neck to look left, noticing a small hand reach across his arm and to his hand. The boy snuffed out the flame so he didn't burn her and glanced into the maiden's eyes. "Just some trouble sleeping…" His voice was low, more matured.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The woman whispered in his ear, moving closer and using her other hand to trace his shoulder. "Or forget about it?" He was not in the mood for what she had in mind. Which was strange, he was mostly in the mood.

"No, Cinder. Not now, go back to bed. I'll join you in a second." The woman frowned, whatever was bothering him was starting to bother her.

"Gray, tell me about it."

"It's nothing, just leave me alone." This was starting to annoy him.

"Gray just tell me, I want to hel-"

" _ **Cinder**_." She flinched and quickly stepped away from him. Her eyes were still closed, waiting for something. "Please, just go back to sleep." She slowly opened her eyes and nodded, walking away before stopping at the doorway to look at him. The familiar embers and burning fur flew away from the man and she quickly made her way to they're shared bedroom.

She was scared of him. Cinder Fall, the tyrant maiden… was scared of her nineteen-year-old lover, and she couldn't be more annoyed with herself. She loved the fool, truly she did, but he had these moments that made him terrifying. She was basically a goddess with the powers she had, and Gray was close to that same title. She could never hit Gray. Oddly enough, she was weak when it came to people so close to her, she tried making it impossible to get close but the boy weaseled in her walls. As she laid back into her bed, she thought.

She couldn't stay like this forever. Adam had more plans and she had to assist him. But, all she wanted was Gray now… and now he's been having these changes in emotion, she hated it.

All of it.

It infuriated her to no end, but what did she expect? She destroyed Vale, stole the powers of a Maiden and then broke her lover out of prison, mind you the prison was in Atlas, the lion's den. She couldn't have expected to live happily ever after, no… she'd be insane. But no one ever said that she was levelheaded. It wasn't long till she heard Gray's footsteps, and she quickly turned to her side and shifted to the edge of the bed, she didn't want to start an argument and she really didn't want _that_ to happen again. She felt the covers lift up and down, as well as shifting within the bed. Large arms snaked under and over her, pulling her towards the center. Cinder gasped when she felt Gray against him, his body felt cold and hot at the same time.

"I'm sorry, Cinder. I'm just going through some things." She smiled to herself and turned to look at Gray. She then moved on top of him and cupped his cheek.

"It's okay, Gray. You know I love you, right?" She whispered in his ear, softly kissing his neck.

"Yeah, I love you too." He embraced the woman and pulled her into a kiss. He trailed his hand up and down Cinder, so painfully slow. He then pulled away, much to Cinder's annoyance and pulled her to his side. She moved close to him, a hand resting on his light brown chest and her head rested on the boy's shoulder. She seemed much happier. The boy snaked an arm underneath her and wrapped it around the woman's waist. The woman wiggled to get a bit closer and softly kissed his cheek.

"Please, never leave me." She whispered. The boy's face was a blank page as Cinder fell asleep. He didn't know what will happen. Ever since Ruby's visit he's had two voices in his head. He didn't know what to do, or what to do in the future.

He didn't even know if he felt the same.

* * *

 _"You're leaving?" She asked. How? Why? Why would Weiss leave her?_

 _"I-I'm sorry Ruby, but I have no choice." The heiress' voice, still so fragile and hushed. "My, my father he-he-he's taking me away. He said that I recovered from most of the damage Gray did to me." She stuttered and lightly touched her cheek, feeling her brand. The 'G' on her face had healed nicely, but there was no way in hell that it was going to heal to the point where it will disappear. Weiss' ice blue eyes were filled with hot tears. "But Ruby I don't want to leave! He doesn't understand what Gray did to me mentally! Even when he came here while I was asleep!" Not too long after Ruby's unexpected arrangement with Gray, the younger told Weiss what had happened. She was shocked beyond belief and terrified. Just when she thought she was safe here... her nightmare had_ came _here while she was sleeping and completely vulnerable. "I'm terrified to leave with,_ thi _-_ thi _-this on my face! A Schnee can't look like this! A Schnee can't be branded like some animal!" Ruby's eyes widened as Weiss sobbed._

 _Another breakdown of sorts._

 _"I don't want to leave! I can't leave! I'm still broken! I need help! Let me stay here! I wanna stay here! It's not fair!" She screamed to herself, clutching her head. Ruby stumbled towards Weiss and embraced her. The younger rubbed Weiss' back and calmly soothed the unstable heiress. "... Please... let me stay here... I don't want to leave Ruby... I can't do this alone..."_

 _"It's ok Weiss. You'll get through this. We've been through too much to lose it now. I need you just as bad as you need me. Sadly, we'll be separated but do this." Ruby held the sniveling girl by her shoulder. "Whenever something is wrong, whenever you're scared, alone, nervous, whatever... just think of me. No matter what I'll protect you. Nothing can touch you. You're my partner. My strong, thoughtful, caring, hurt partner." Ruby then lightly held Weiss' head and pulled her close. She lightly kissed Weiss' forehead before pulling away._

 _"Thank you, Ruby... I-I-I-I have no words." Ruby then pulled Weiss into another hug as the heiress held on to her._

The young leader awoke, sighing and rubbing her eyes. That was fifteen months ago. Oh, how she missed Weiss. Her partner. Her crush. Her rock. Ruby was an unstable mess after Weiss' departure. And the heiress hadn't contacted her in forever. Ruby felt forgotten, abandoned. The leader was sad and alone. She chuckled dryly when she thought about her title.

Leader.

The word would make you think she's the greatest, confident, caring, outgoing, trusting and so on. She wasn't confident. She wasn't outgoing. She didn't even know where the hell her 'team' was! She wasn't there to save her best friend, she wasn't there to save help her sister. Damn it, she wasn't there to save Weiss, Ironwood, Qrow, Ozpin! She tried to help, she did! She tried with Yang, but her sister wasn't having it. She tried with Weiss and she did some good. She tried with Blake but it seemed that the Faunus was avoiding her.

The girl rose from her bed and sauntered to her bathroom thinking about Cinder. She stole Gray from her. She made Gray into a murderous terrorist. She killed Gray. Murdered him. She killed her best friend and put that monster in his body. Ruby was losing hope of Gray being salvageable, able to be saved. But that hope came back when he visited. That visit confirmed that Gray was still in there somewhere, lost and most likely afraid.

And she'll save him. She'll leave tonight.

Not too long after Gray's visit Ruby talked to her uncle, who was readying himself for a hunt. A hunt for Gray. Ruby had somehow managed to convince Qrow into taking her with him, along with a few others, the remnants of team JNPR. The three had agreed to come with them, wanting vengeance, neither of them cared for Gray.

They wanted Cinder dead and out of the question. They had an issue, though. Ruby had to sneak out of her home, without anyone knowing. Meaning, she had to run away. She thought about it for a while… is this even a good idea? Will it be worth it? Can she convince Gray? She didn't know. And she sure as hell couldn't know. But she had to try, deep down that broken shell of a man was her old friend, and he needed saving, he needed help.

Ruby wanted to do this but, a thought of her family crossed her mind. What will Yang think? What about her father? Will he be mad at her? Will he even go looking for her? The girl shook her head. Of course, he would. The thing is, will he forgive her? Qrow didn't tell Taiyang his plan with Ruby, why would he? 'Hey, I'm gonna take your daughter to go find her old friend!' That was bound to end in disaster.

A familiar beeping broke Ruby away from her past. Searching for the noise the girl found it to be her Scroll, and she received a message. From Qrow.

 **Q: We're outside. Hurry, before your father wakes up.**

With that, the broken leader dressed herself slipping into new clothes and leaving her old attire behind. As she grabbed Crescent Rose, she scanned around the room. Toys and action figures of Grimm were scattered throughout. The leader recalled a memory when she played in here with Gray and Yang when they were kids. She'll bring him back. He may not come willingly but…

She was sure to take risks.

Opening a window within her room, Ruby took one last glance at her room. She wouldn't be seeing it anytime soon. Slipping through, her feet crunched on the pure white snow. Closing the window, she walked around her home and soon found Qrow and the rest of JNPR. Smiling, Ruby walked towards Qrow and embraced him. "Hey, Little Rose. How ya doin'?" That nickname… it caused her to sigh.

"I'm fine. Are we ready to go?" Ruby questioned while glancing over the faces of the group. Jaune and Nora had soft smiles on their faces but, they were pretty hard to see. The four all nodded and Ruby nodded as well. "Well, let's get going. It's gonna take a while to get to Mistral, we should get moving."

* * *

G.

She never thought a letter could intimidate and fill her with so much fear. She never thought that a letter would be painfully burned into her face, open for the world's eyes to see. She never thought that Atlas could be filled with so much fear. All because of him. It was because of him that she was here, staring at a memorial.

She walked along a wall that had around forty names engraved on it. The forty lives lost when Gray escaped. She glanced along the wall burning every single name into her mind. How could a now, nineteen-year-old, do all of this? How insane does someone have to be to brand another human being?

She was _pathetic_.

She expected her father to say that, that what she thought she was anyways. 'No. You're wrong Weiss. Remember what Ruby said.' Ruby… Weiss had missed her partner dearly but, they had to be separated even though they hated the idea. The heiress still couldn't look at herself with just a… deformity on her face, hence why she covered her face with a pure white scarf. It didn't make her stand out or anything, scarfs were a common thing to see in Atlas due to its weather.

The scarf covered her face up until her nose, hiding her brand. But, even though it was hidden, she still thought people could see it like it was being showcased. The heiress could never be in public any longer than an hour. It was sad, to be honest. Whenever she had to participate in a meeting with her father and the family company, she couldn't stay for long, even if something covered her face. She hated being so self-conscious.

God, she missed Ruby.

Her little leader is sixteen now. She's probably doing some Ruby-related, trying to cheer her poor sister up. Speaking of sisters… Weiss had heard about Winter and her little fight with Gray. The woman handled herself greatly, but even that wasn't enough. Gray was a tricky bastard, he almost killed Winter.

Almost.

Winter had escaped the destroyed prison along with Qrow, General Ironwood, and Professor Goodwitch, albeit barely. The Dust explosion was humongous, they all barely lived due to they're Aura's. Weiss shook her sister out of her thoughts as she exhaled, seeing her breath rise and fly away from her.

Now was a good time to go home. She was feeling anxious. Weiss walked back the way she came, albeit in a rush. She had heard that Gray and Cinder had escaped Atlas and retreated to some other place, nowhere near Weiss. That's all she really cared about. The farther that psychopath was from her, the better. The heiress arrived at the small limo that she showed up in. She climbed inside, meeting the gaze of her driver.

"Are you finished with your work, Miss Schnee?"

"Yes…" She said. "Can we go back to the Manor please?"

"Of course, Miss Schnee." With that the car began to lurch forward, it's destination Schnee Manor.

It didn't take long for her to arrive, a fifteen-minute drive. Weiss climbed out of the limo and quietly thanked the driver. She quickly rushed inside before speed walking towards her room, hiding her face from the resident workers. "Weiss." No… she didn't want to talk. All she wanted was to go to her room and hide as pathetic as it sounded.

"Y-yes? Father?" She didn't want to look into his gaze, so judging at least that's what she thought.

"Where were you today?"

"I went to visit the newly built Memorial." She could basically feel her father's eyes on her.

"So be it. Continue with what you were doing." Weiss thanked her father and rushed to her room, closing her door. Alone, at last, but also regrettably. The heiress she'd her clothes and scarf, holding the piece of fabric.

The scarf was her only protection from her weakness. That 'G'.

She hated it. The girl sat down on her bed grabbing her scroll. She lied on her side and activated it before looking at pictures.

Her and Ruby.

This picture was taken around the start of the year. Ruby had her arm around Weiss' neck and the other held the scroll. Weiss had her arms folded and she pouted, but she had a glint of happiness in her eyes. She scrolled through more until she landed on another.

She wished she hadn't.

Those strong arms around her waist, the familiar snicker. That midnight black eye, and the light dark skin. It was a picture of Weiss and Gray, when they were… 'together'. They both had smiles on they're faces, happy. The boy held the scroll and it was just barely in front of his face, but you could barely see his smile.

How?

How did he change so violently? How did Gray transform into that monster that branded her. This picture it… it bothered her, it hurt to look at it. Weiss looked through more, growing more upset.

Another picture. Gray smiling in her hair while Weiss blushed faintly due to the picture

Another picture. Weiss is laughing along with Gray.

Another… Gray was on the ground with a faint blush on his face and Weiss snickered at him.

Another picture… this one drove the nail in the coffin. Gray held Ruby on his shoulders, the girl having the happiest look ever. Yang was in the middle of the picture along with Blake. Yang poked her tongue out and held a peace sign, while Blake simply smiled. Lastly, Weiss smiled warmly at the picture next to Gray and Ruby. Tears slipped from her eyes, her hand clenching tightly on her scroll. Her knuckles ached as she sniffed.

She couldn't see them again. As badly as she wanted to… she couldn't. They probably didn't want to see her either way. Maybe Ruby but… she didn't know about Blake or maybe Yang. Then there was him. Ruby told her that Gray spared both of them, almost like he gave up. She was hopeful, ecstatic even. There was a chance, a small chance that she could get Gray back.

There was a chance that she could end this madness.

Weiss hoped that Ruby wouldn't do what she thought the leader would do. 'She'd get herself killed. There's no stopping that monster.' Weiss shivered. 'Stay safe Ruby…'

"Please don't do anything you'll regret."

* * *

She remembered the memory well. Too well. She mastered the environment around her, the fire, the cracking, the pools of blood that littered the once great cafeteria of Beacon. Then there was them.

Weiss. She knew every single detail of the heiress. The dried blood that was stuck on her dress and hair. The horrific bruises and cuts on her skin. And that brand, it looked so evil, so excited from it's birth. It looked so content.

She then noticed the bastard that gave Weiss said brand. Fire engulfed one of his arms as he stared at her, an excited psychopath with the smile of a three-year-old. His midnight black eye was just a void, nothing, emotionless in a way.

She then felt angry. She was fuming about what the bastard did to Weiss, she was furious about Blake, and she was fucking pissed that Gray had changed so drastically. She charged him and Gray charged back. She ignored Blake's pleads and smashed her fist into Gray, the punch launched the asshole into the air.

She then charged her next victim, this mysterious black and red guy. She leaped into the air and this is when it happened.

This was the moment when her life was over.

This was the part of the memory that she remembered clearly.

The embers flying by her angered face, the face of her terrified partner, the small grin the black and red guy had on his face. She remembered the random increase of speed that she didn't expect. Finally, she remembered the loud slice that rang in her ears.

And that's when she woke up. Gasping, Yang raked a hand through her hair, it was surely a mess due to her not taking care of it. Yang shook off her covers before sliding off her bed. Today was another day.

Another day of doing nothing. At least she still had her sister. Someone to listen to. After Gray's escape Blake vanished, and it angered the blonde. Why? Why would she leave her partner? Yang needed her but Blake was so focused on herself that she didn't notice!

Yang sighed. She couldn't blame her, after all Blake did tell her to run. But she didn't listen, and now, she was without an arm. The blonde walked out of her room and knocked on Ruby's door. After a minute of waiting the blonde wondered if her sister was still asleep. Slowly opening the door, Yang gasped.

A window in her room was open and Crescent Rose was nowhere to be seen. "Ruby?" Yang whispered. 'Oh no.' Yang sprinted out of the room to look for her sister, running out into the snow. She ignored the cold and franticly searched for her sister, only to see the white carpet that was snow. The blonde then ran back to the room, seeing if Ruby was hiding or something.

She found nothing.

Yang plopped on Ruby's bed terrified. Where did she go? Yang looked to her left and saw a little note. Grabbing it, she looked it over.

 _I'm sorry Yang, Dad. But, I know he can be saved. Please don't go looking for me, I'm not alone._

 _Love, Ruby_

No… no… nononono! Why?! Why does she try so much?! The blonde knew that Gray was dead, after the fall of Vale, he was long gone! And yet…

Yang sighed, rubbing her face.

And yet, Ruby ran away from home to go on… on… this suicide mission to help 'save' her 'friend'. Yang had to do something, anything! She needed to save her sister from that monster!

But what will she do? What can she do? She didn't have an arm, Ember Cecilia was broken, and Ruby had a head start on her. Damn it, Yang didn't even know where to start! Maybe… maybe if she didn't push Ruby away, maybe she would've stayed.

Yang stood up and went to find her scroll, she needed to convince Ruby.

She needed to convince her that Gray won't come back.

He's dead.


	2. Chapter 2

"…Just know, whatever you pick, will be something you'll love…" Man, was he wrong. The boy sighed raking his hair. As usual he was alone in Cinder's home, the woman had to step out and take care of a few things for they're next objectives. She had been gone for a while and Gray waited for her eventual return, it was odd… it was raining pretty bad in Mistral.

She always left, and this was another thing that he hated. Being all alone in this little 'prison' always made him think. Think about things he didn't really want to think about.

And his mind always traced back to Ruby.

Whatever the hell that kid was doing, it always peaked the boy's interest. Finally, a door opening and closing signaled Gray to get up. Walking down a hallway, Gray stopped at the edge of a wall and leaned against it slightly. He watched Cinder sigh and shed her soaked clothes, before smiling faintly in Gray direction. "Hello, Gray." The woman stood on her toes and gave Gray a brief kiss before walking to they're bed room. It was an odd way of announcing her presence, stripping down to her underwear, usually she'd do it within the safety of they're room.

The boy stared at the pile of wet clothes and sighed. Grabbing them, he walked to their laundry room and threw the clothes in there. He'd wash them later. Now he had to continue his routine.

First was waiting for Cinder, then help her with her clothes, next he had to relax with her.

God damn it… this wasn't who he was! And it fucking pissed him off that he became this woman's… househusband. Its not like he had anything better to do. She was so selfish to make sure that he was safe that she didn't even worry about how he felt. The boy sighed. Relax… don't do anything rash, we wouldn't want 'that' to happen again. The boy sat down next to Cinder and the woman embraced him from behind. "What did you do while I stayed here?"

"Seeing the progress Adam has been going through. Everything is coming to plan."

"So, what's our next little target?" Gray rubbed his face while Cinder massaged his back. "Atlas?"

"We're still thinking about it. Atlas doesn't sound like such a good idea. Surely they doubled up on security." The boy nodded.

"When will I be able to leave this place?"

"Hmm?"

"When can I start helping? I don't care what I do, I could just follow you around and I'd be ok with that."

"Gray I'm not sure if that's a good idea." God damn it.

"I knew you'd say that." The boy pushed her off of him and leaned forward, rubbing his temple.

"Gray, I just don't think it would be saf-"

"Safe for what? Who? Are you saying I'm unstable?" The boy stood up and stared at Cinder with anger. Cinder shivered briefly the boy's eye darkened, a familiar sight. She had to really think about her words. She wouldn't admit it but Gray was unstable.

"No listen to me. It's just-"

" **No**! You listen to me! I'm **sick** of standing around in this 'prison'. **I'm sick of doing nothing but be someone's bitch**!" The boy balled his fists, feeling fire fill them and quickly vanish. Cinder stared at his hands before grabbing Gray's shoulders.

"Gray! Listen! If you didn't cut me off, you would've heard me say that you could come with me." The boy's eye losses it's darkened color and his hands eased. Cinder led out a breath she didn't know she held. The boy sighed and held onto Cinder's forearms.

"I'm sorry. I-I stepped out of line." Cinder smiled faintly and caressed the boy's face.

"Don't be. I'm at fault for keeping you here. We can't fight over such silly things." Cinder pulled the boy back to their bed and pulled his head to her chest, hugging him. The boy stretched his arms around her, returning the embrace and listening to her calming, soothing, heartbeat.

"I understand." The two stayed in silence after that. Cinder caressing Gray's head and the boy sat there, trying to calm himself down. "When can I start doing stuff?"

Cinder smiled in the boy's ear. "Tonight."

"Oh? Am I going back to my old job as a brute?" Gray joked. One thing that was different about the boy was that… he didn't smile too often, not even at his own jokes. It was strange to see the boy like this but, Cinder put it in the back of her mind, however, she smiled herself. After all, Gray hasn't joked like this for a while.

"Perhaps. I need you to come with me. A 'thug' of sorts is supposed to meet up with me, you and Adam. He's giving us more Dust injectors."

"Why? I have enough Dust already in my body for me to count as a walking, talking Dust bomb."

"It's not for you. When I was gone today, Adam had informed me that his little White Fang tools can do exactly what you can do. Actually, lots of people can inject Dust into their bloodstream. But, only for a short period."

"So, why bother keeping me around if I was some rat to test this idea out on?" Cinder scoffed and slid off the bed and stood in front of the boy, hands on her hips and a not very pleased expression.

"That's not funny Gray. You weren't, and are not a rat." The boy rolled his eye and snickered faintly.

"Ok sorry. Continue." The apology was filled with sarcasm. Cinder huffed and continued with her explanation.

"This 'thug' will drop off a few injectors, which we'll store."

"Does this thug belong to anyone? Surely, he can't just be sitting on top of 'Dust-injectors-of-mass-destruction'."

"Of course. We're… cooperating with one of the few 'gangsters' around here. That term is ridiculous."

"Great. This is already turning into a mob movie." The boy stood up, towering over Cinder. "When are we leaving?"

"In a little while. First, relax. Take things easily." The boy sighed and walked past the woman.

"I know how to relax Cinder." Gray then disappeared into the hallway. Cinder rubbed her temple and sat back down on their bed.

"I can't take this much longer."

* * *

The sound of a sniper rang throughout the air as a Beowolf collapsed on the floor, disintegrating. A small hand placed it's weapon to its holster. Sighing, Ruby wiped the sweat from her brow. All night she had been killing this large pack of Grimm and now, she finally cleared them out, with the help of the rest of her team of course.

Glancing to her left she watched the remains of team JNPR sheathe their weapons and check each other. A large hand rested on the leader's shoulder, causing her to jump.

"Relax, it's me." Ruby exhaled and grabbed her uncle's hand.

"Sorry. It's just that reminded me of…" She trailed off, unable to say the name that was stuck in her throat.

"Don't worry about it, Ruby. Let's rest for the rest of the night." Qrow scanned the village that they 'saved'. None of the doors opened ever since the Grimm were disposed. "We'll rest away from here." Ruby nodded and waved for Jaune, Nora and Ren to follow. The five left the broken village and walked into the forest.

Being in this forest really made Ruby have second thoughts about camping. The constant threat of luring Grimm, the awkward silence her companions gave, and the uncomfortableness of the forests ground didn't help either. Shifting to get comfortable, she watched Qrow and Ren help with getting the fire started and Ruby offered to take first watch. The others nodded and fell asleep, still clutching their weapons just in chase.

Ruby sat and leaned on a tree holding Crescent Rose, eyeing the bushes and snapping her attention to anything that made a noise, even her friends. She stared at Jaune who shifted and opened his eyes. Unable to sleep. "Ruby?"

"Yeah, Jaune?" She sounded so tired.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah. What's up?" The girl listened while still staying on the alert.

"How do you treat loss? Heartbreak?" Ruby was slightly taken aback from this. "I'm sorry if it's a tough think to say."

"Well Jaune," Ruby thought about how to respond to this. "Loss you say..? When I lost Gray I… I… it felt like someone close to me was ripped away. Cinder stole Gray from me. Killed him, even. The way I delt with it was, just to remember good times and eventually I, I kinda forgot him. You're talking about Pyrrha right?" Jaune nodded. "Well, our cases are different. Gray's still here but Pyrrha…" Ruby trailed off before focusing again. "I see a few ways off dealing with her death. Revenge, or just grieving. Remember her, just know not to beat yourself up over this."

"I know, thanks for talking Ruby. Also, I have another question for you. What are you going to do when you find Gray? Mistral is pretty big. When you find him, what will you do? He probably won't come willingly."

"I don't know Jaune. When he visited me, Gray had this… look of doubt on his face. Like he realized everything he's done. Now, Qrow talked to me about Gray and he thinks that something else is controlling him, not like by someone else but... by himself."

"What?" Jaune looked confused.

"The best way I can explain this is that this, instinct he has and whatever it did to him made him who he was during the Beacon dance."

"And everything else?"

"It was all Cinder's fault." Ruby gripped Crescent Rose tightly. "She murdered Gray. She killed him and put a monster in his body. That thing that pretended to be 'Ash'. That thing, pretended to be Gray when I visited him at his prison. And that thing, pretended to be Gray while it branded Weiss, dismembered my sister and… nearly hurt me."

"How is Weiss?" Jaune thought it was best to change the subject. The remains of JNPR were supposed to kill Cinder, not Ruby. She's still too young, they couldn't let her adopt that task, all that she was supposed to do wad be reunited with her confused friend. "I never got a chance to see her, after Vale, everything was bland, nothing really happened."

"Weiss was…" Could she really tell Jaune how she was? Surely Weiss wouldn't like that. Strangely, next to Jaune was the heiress, her stare was towards Ruby's feet and she shifted uncomfortably on the ground, her arms were linked around her legs. She looked like she had been there the whole time. Ruby lost herself in the heiress but, the platinum blonde girl looked up into Ruby's eyes shaking her head while mouthing, 'no, don't tell him.' Shaking her head, Ruby noticed that Weiss was now gone. "Sorry, Weiss is fine now. She just had to recover from Gray is all." She didn't go into any details about Weiss, and the little leader glanced back to where Weiss was, expecting her to come back.

"Ruby, I think I should take watch, you really beat yourself up today." Ruby tried to stay that she was fine but a yawn cut her off. Sighing she pushed leaves around, trying to get comfortable.

"Good night Jaune." She said before falling asleep.

Ruby tossed and turned, struggling to see her dream. It was blurry, a strange figure was washed over, giving a strange look.

 _From what she could decipher, the figure was two things. The clearest was a tall figure with light dark skin. They were in a suit of some sort. Black dress pants, loafers, a light gray button-up shirt. The top two buttons were unbuttoned as well. Slowly, Ruby's vision was becoming clearer and she saw two feminine arms effortlessly buttoning the shirt. Following the arms to their owner, Ruby could faintly see a familiar orange dress and flowing black hair._

 _A familiar snicker and burning eyes, made Ruby anxious. Cinder stared at Ruby as she fixed Gray, like he was some sort of doll to her. "He's mine. And you can't take him from me." Cinder voice sounded mocking, like Ruby couldn't stand a chance on getting her friend back. Ruby tried to reach out to her friend but, she couldn't do anything. She was powerless. "You won't take him away from me." Cinder sounded annoyed as she walked behind Gray and threw a tie around his neck. Meanwhile, the 'doll' stood there emotionless, like he didn't want to be there, but he had no choice. Finally, Cinder finished tying the boy's tie and raked a hand through his hair before forcing a kiss on him. " **He** won't let you." She then lightly pushed the boy away and he began to walk towards Ruby._

 _His right hand burned with a starving fire, blazing and licking his arm. "Give up now. There's no point. Leave us be." The boy towered over Ruby, he had a sullen look. The boy placed a hand on the girl's head and before he could do anything, Ruby woke up._

Quickly, she opened her eyes, seeing her little fire, slowly dying out. Rising upwards the girl rubbed sleep out of her eyes.

"Ruby, we should get going." Her uncle barked. The leader nodded and stood up before walking over to Jaune, the blonde was slumped, leaning on a tree and his arms crossed. In between his arms were his sword and sheathe-shield. Ruby tapped his forehead and the boy jolted awake, causing the younger to smile softly.

"Come on Jaune, we gotta go." The boy sighed.

"Please, wake me up gentler next time. You poking me felt like a was getting stabbed by a dull blade."

"How do you know what that feels like?" She asked as she helped the blonde up.

"Let's just say my childhood was special." Ruby giggled while Jaune fixed his hair.

"You two! You ready?" Qrow barked. The two leaders nodded and began to follow Qrow.

Jaune was still a little anxious about Ruby. She still might not be ready mentally, after all, when the blonde brought up Weiss, Ruby seemed to dose off like she was in some trance. He just hoped that she knew what she was signing herself up for.

He did not want to see this young girl breakdown and shatter before him, he didn't think his heart could take it.

* * *

"How much longer? This thug is surely taking his time." Gray sighed, he was getting bored and the fact that it was night wasn't helping his warm condition. Good thing he had fire Dust in him. Him, Cinder, Adam and a few White Fang members were supposed to meet this thug in a selected alleyway. The boy fiddled with his little outfit, which was selected by Cinder.

The outfit was certainly something new for the boy, a light gray button-up shirt, and a sleek black vest. Black dress pants and loafers. To him, he looked like a knock-off of Roman. But to Cinder, he looked dashing.

"That's a good question. I'm about to contact his superior." Cinder sounded like a mother, about to call a kid's mom. Adam was starting to grow impatient as well. Not too long after Cinder complained, the three and their small batch of White Fang saw a panicked figure. It was strange, whatever they were expecting was supposed to be in the form of a truck. The figure came closer and the White Fang aimed they're guns at it. The figure raised it's hands in the air and Gray went to inspect it.

The figure was a woman, she was wearing dirty clothes and a hoodie, she had cuts on her hands and Gray could barely see fox ears. "Don't shoot! I was supposed to bring you the injectors!"

"Supposed?" Gray sounded angry.

"Y-yes," This orange, heated aura that this man gave off, scared her. Let alone the smell of fire. "I was supposed to but, I was hijacked." Quickly the boy grabbed the woman by her collar and lifted her off the ground, very annoyed.

"Who took it?" The boy sounded disappointed.

"Gray? What are you doing?" Oh shit. The Faunus was being held by Gray. The man that broke out of Atlas. The woman looked left and saw Cinder standing there, arms crossed and not happy.

"We don't have our injectors." He informed the Maiden.

"What?" Cinder frowned.

"Come on, girl. Tell her."

"I was hijacked by some rival gang." The girl blurted. Gray dropped and held his side laughing.

"Oh, you've gotta, be kidding me!" He said between breaths. "Cinder! This is exactly like a mob movie!" He then continued to laugh while Cinder moved her attention to the fox Faunus.

"Where are our injectors?" The woman ignored her lover and stared menacingly at the Faunus.

"I-I'm not sure! They might've taken it to one of their warehouses." The Faunus confessed.

"What's up with us and warehouses?" Gray sighed, collecting himself. "Tell us where and I'll get 'em."

"What?" The Tyrant Maiden asked. "I was going to send Adams men there."

"No. I'm going. Now where, Faunus girl. I don't have the patience for this." The Faunus gave directions to the little hideout and Gray nodded. "Why didn't you retrieve our stuff if you knew where it was?" The Faunus looked down, scared to respond.

"My-my boss said that-that it was your problem now." Gray and Cinder glanced at each other before rolling they're eyes.

"You deal with her boss and I'll get our stuff."

"Thank you, Gray. Be careful." Cinder bit her lip. The boy waved her off and continued walking leaving her sight. "Now as for you."

"Wait! Ever heard the term, don't kill the messenger?" The Faunus pleaded.

"Yes. But, I'm not focused on you right now. Let's pay a visit to your boss." The maiden checked the time. Around eleven.

She had time.

"Adam! We're paying a visit to Jameson. I'll tell you why on the way there." With that the Maiden and her followers left, bring the Faunus with them.

Meanwhile, Gray walked through the streets of Mistral, now seeing the difference between it and Vale. The streets weren't as lively at night. Vale was always a busy city but Mistral… was odd. The boy felt his pocket vibrate and he grabbed his scroll. Cinder.

 _Cinder: Once everything is in order, contact me._

The boy scoffed and shoved the object back in his pocket. The boy was anxious to see these assholes that made this simple 'drop', more difficult. He could feel the various types of Dust flow through him, just as excited as he was. The boy was well known for his 'skills' when it came to using Dust especially fire, after all, his alias was the Burning Beast.

Not even ten minutes later, the boy had reached his destination. This part of town was really grimy. Buildings were tagged, the constant barking… Gray didn't really care. His mind was centered around all of that Dust that these dick bags were hiding. The boy walked closer to the Warehouse, it's large doors were open and the back of a containment truck poked out from the large rectangular building. The boy stood in front of the entrance, seeing a few people inside.

Walking along the truck, the boy gained the attention of a few goons and the stood up from chairs and boxes. A few of them grabbed pistols and weapons. "Stop! Who the fuck are you and how'd you get here!" Gray felt something smile at the back of his head.

"Watch your language. As for how I got here, it was by foot." A few of the men stared Gray down, analyzing his face and a few gasped when they recognized who he was. Murmurs flew about as a fairly burly man walked into Gray's view.

"Why are you here? We don't have the patience for a smart ass."

"Simple. I want the truck. You have something that I want that's in it."

"Dust injectors? Why do you need them?" The man leaned against a crate as Gray sighed.

"I don't have time for this," He muttered to himself. "That doesn't concern you. All you have to know is that you stole from some gang that was supposed to give me and my allies those injectors."

"Who are you, stranger? Who do you think you are, walking in here and asking for something we stole?" Gray grinned and stared evilly at the man. He was gonna die.

"I'm Gray." A few gasps and 'I knew it's filled his ears. The man in front of the Burning Beast tilted his head. "And I didn't ask to have the truck."

"Bullshit. Gray walks around with a belt of injectors." The boy snickered more. "Now, get out of here." The man pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Gray. The heat of the room began to rise and the others were becoming anxious.

"Screw this I'm not dying to the Burning Beast." One got up and ran off, another following. The rest had nervous looks on they're faces. Was this guy the real deal? They had heard the stories, seen the news. Hell, they were looking at him now, the Burning Beast, the Destroyer of Vale, it was like they were staring at a fairytale villain. And he was staring right back at them.

Gray loved it. They knew who he was but they didn't know what he could do, at least what he could do now. These asshats had no idea about him, and that's why he loved all of the idiocy. The heat of the warehouse was starting to get abnormal. The boy ignored the embers that flew around. "So, is that a yes or a no on the truck?"

"You're not taking it."

"Oh, I'm **so** glad **you said no**." The boy rushed the man and punched him to the floor, fire following the punch. Quickly, the others aimed and fired. The bullets never hit there intended target instead they hit a stone wall. The boy snickered and placed a hand on the ground, causing a pillar of ice to form. As he rose, he scanned the warehouse. Six or so people on the balconies, fifteen on the ground. The boy rolled off the still rising pillar so that the pillar was blocking sight. Feeling fire on his right hand, Gray punched the pillar breaking it and causing shards to fly across the room. Landing, the boy ran towards a dazed goon. The boy punched him and the flames licked up the man's body before launching him into a wall.

The man's pistol clattered to the floor and Gray quickly picked it up and fired at three other men, killing them quickly. The boy groaned and tripped forward, after recomposing himself, Gray turned around to see a man holding a black metal baseball bat. The boy grabbed it with his right and snickered as he heated it up. The bat glowed and glowed and the man threw it away. As the man threw the molten bat away from him, he felt the cold barrel of Gray's pistol against the back of his skull. In an instant, the man's life was over. Blood and other contents scattered over Gray's clothes and face, however his face kept the same look, and evil, unwavering snicker.

He loved this, lived for this, this is what made him… **him**. This death and murder and brutality made the Burning Beast. And he was having way too much fun with this.

The boy then sprinted towards more of the group, firing off shots and grazing a few, Gray never really used a gun but boy was this fun. He pulled the trigger again but heard a click. " **Shit**." The boy threw the pistol at point-point-blank range of a man's face, knocking the man back into his friend. Using this to his advantage, Gray grabbed the confused man and threw him into the wall. The psychotic murderer then tackled the other running straight towards the other that was stuck in a wall. Gray pinned the two together before raising his right hand.

Expecting a punch the boy looked at his hand to see it with fully sharpened claws the boy slashed across the two, tearing through they're torsos and digging out internal organs. The claw arm was covered in blood and the shirt was stained and ripped.

Cinder is gonna flip.

The boy grabbed other pistol on the floor before snapping his head upward meeting the gaze of a few men on the balconies. They looked ready but, in reality they were scared shitless. The boy tapped the floor and used an ascending pillar to leap onto the balconies, in between a few goons. They all rushed him and Gray ran towards one. The boy immediately shot one in the face and grabbed the corpse by the shirt, he then threw it behind him, distracting the people behind him for a bit. He then uppercutted another, sent him upwards a bit, but the boy quickly grabbed his leg and threw him back down to the balcony, right on top of yet another man.

The two bounced up by the force, each a different height, the man that was thrown down was higher than other.

Gray ran past them and held the pistol in a way so he could hold it entirely in his left hand. He then punched the one closest to the balcony floor, sending him through the floor. With those two taken care of, Gray shot the rest that were behind him while occasionally killing others with his bare hands. The boy sighed, now, he just had to deal with two others downstairs.

Jumping off the side, the boy discarded the pistol and rushed one tackling him, he stood up and felt two others do the exact same. Unexpecting the tackles, Gray fell back, dropping the man he was holding. The three jumped Gray, wailing on him and kicking. One ran to grab a gun, leaving Gray a chance to get up. The boy punched the floor, fire flowing over it and onto the two that were hitting him. Getting up Gray, grabbed one by the neck and increased the heat in his hand, hearing the man scream and thrash before going quiet, safe for the charing of the man's skin. Dropping the corpse, Gray turned to the other next to him, the kid looked terrified. " **Ple** a **s** e... **run**." who which tried to flee. The boy easily chased him down and jumped on him, turning him over. The boy proceeded to throw punch after punch, an unrelenting wave of punches landed in the man's neck and skull.

Arms went to block and stop Gray's attacks but they were quickly and savagely broken. With a repeated sickening crunches, Gray had killed him. The boy stood up and look for the last person. Over the bloody mess that he made, Gray managed to find the survivor. The survivor managed to find a gun and immediately started firing at Gray. The boy sprinted at him, trying to dodge the bullets, but his Aura took a few. Just a few inches away from the barrel of the pistol, Gray stared at the survivor, the survivor looked terrified.

Sighing, Gray flipped the pistol in one swift motion, so he was holding it. Pulling the trigger, the boy had the satisfying feeling of success wash over him. It was over. His right hand returned to it's normal shape and he looked around, his mind clearing.

 _Ugh_.

He did this. Ripped these fools to shreds. He barely remembered it too. Just like a real psycho. Wiping his face, the boy wiped the blood and gray matter of his face. He still had the rush too. The boy moved a corpse off a crate and called Cinder. " _Hello?_ "

"Cin," He sounded tired but mildly happy at the same time. "Job's done. When can you get here?" A low chuckle made him smile faintly.

" _We're on our way now. Great job._ " The two then hung up and Gray looked around. A body had a some cigars in them. Huh. Gray always wanted to try them, Roman was always smoking them. He grabbed one and snapped his fingers, at the tips was a flame set to fit on a lighter. The boy put the cigar in his mouth, not enjoying the taste. Holding the fire close he set the cigar a blaze and inhaled. Coughing, the boy moved the cigar out of his mouth. 'How in the world did Roman smoke these?'

About ten minutes later, the Fall Maiden had arrived. When Cinder entered the Warehouse she was shocked. So, much, blood. Bodies were all over the place, guns, weapons and bullet casings littered the floor. And then there was Gray, sitting on a crate with blood all over him and smoking a cigar. He looked ridiculous. With haste, Cinder slapped the thing out of his mouth and both of them having looks of small and large annoyances. "I only had one." He pouted, a small smile on his face.

"I do _not_ want to lose you to some lung killer." The woman than looked Gray over. "You aren't hurt are you?"

"No, Cin, I'm fine. These suckers didn't stand a chance." The boy when to hold Cinder's face but she recoiled.

"Clearly, and until you take a shower, you're not touching me." The boy smiled again, today was a good day. The two heard the truck containing all the injectors start up and the boy stood.

"We leavin'? It's starting to stink in here." Cinder smiled.

"Yes. We're leaving." The two left, leaving the dead bodies and going to the saftey of they're home. Leaving all of this for the authorities to find in the morning.

Their home was an hour away. As soon as they entered, Gray raced for the shower. Cinder stared at her door when she heard the shower stop. The whole time he had been in there she thought of that, scene. It was a massacre. Cinder never saw Gray go that far and hopefully she wont have to again. She didn't regret sending Gray to do it, in her opinion, he was the best option for retrieving the injectors, but she wouldn't admit it. But seeing how efficient and brutal he was at killing… she shook it out of her thoughts, after all, they're home now.

He couldn't do that again, killing that many and in such a violent fashion, scared him. God... he was broken. Split in half between psychotic killer, and sad sack-of-shit asshole. But sometimes he was his old self.

Sometimes.

The boy walked out of the bathroom and sat on the bed yawning. "After what you did, I expected you to be asleep by now." Cinder said, lying next to him. She smiled at him, watching the boy stretch.

"Why do you always wear my shirt to bed?" The boy sighed.

"They're comfortable..." It was almost impossible for Gray to consider Cinder cute, it would be strange to call a woman cute, let alone a Maiden. But boy, with that response… Gray had to remember who he was living with. Scoffing, the boy pulled the woman closer, the latter effortlessly and immediately resting on his chest, hearing the familiar soft beats of Gray's heart.

She pushed herself up and softly kissed Gray on the cheek. Another night of nothing 'fun' as Cinder would put it. "Goodnight." She whispered before throwing the covers over them. The warm blanket embraced her and the woman closed her eyes.

With a swift motion, the blanket were off and Cinder peeked an eye to see why.

"I never said I was going to sleep." The low, deep voice of Gray sent small shivers through Cinder. Glancing up, Cinder shrieked when she felt Gray, roll her to the left. Unable to see her lover Cinder looked down to her legs, now seeing her attacker. He forcefully kissed Cinder getting a surprised 'mmpf!' from her. The surprise didn't last long, as Cinder quickly kissed back. Feeling the familiar, yet oddly foreign tongue prod her lips, the Maiden open her mouth and lashed out with hers. She felt her arms bound by strong, large hands.

She didn't care.

The boy pulled away and moved towards her ear, his lips so, so, so, close. "We haven't done this in a while. But, I bet you don't care. All you want right now is me. Right?" An accidentally anxious nod answered. "Good." Then a hard bite on Cinder's ear, made her gasp in pain.

She was so happy.

Whatever she's doing its working.

After all this time finally...

She's getting _Gray_ back.


	3. Chapter 3

Nothing is quite like seeing a Grimm be born before your very eyes…

Eye.

Gray stared out of one of the many windows that occupied most of the walls within the room. Cinder's boss had requested a little meeting and the woman had been informed to bring her 'project'. And here he was waiting for 'Salem' to arrive. The rest of her lackeys were… different. One of which was starting to annoy him. This man was constantly going on and on about Gray. "I must say Cinder, this 'project' is impressive. Although I'm confused. When did Salem instruct you to convince, a Beast of all things, to join our cause?" Gray snickered to himself, hiding his snarky smile. Who the hell was this wannabe doctor?

"Well Watts, Salem did not tell me to do such a thing, however, what better person to have than to have a Beast. Because of him, we went through amazing breakthroughs." Cinder glanced at the boy and barely saw his fading smile, a small barely noticeable one appeared on her lips.

"You may be right but you can control this man, can you?" Cinder turned to Gray waiting for him to defend himself. Getting the idea, the boy turned to 'Watts' with a hint of annoyance.

"Watts is your name? Well, Cinder doesn't have to control me. I'm perfectly **fine.** " The boy coughed, trying to hide the random deepening of his voice. 'Damn it. Perfect timing me.' The boy barely glanced at cinders slightly worried face, still keeping his eye focused on Watts.

"I expect you to have some respect, boy. If you act like this when you meet Salem, surely you won't last through the meeting."

"Watts, if you're gonna annoy this boy, at least use his name." Another man spoke up. "I wouldn't talk down to a 'Beast' anyways, especially one with Dust enhancements! Oh, how did it feel to slip in different Dust into your body? Did it burn? Did it make you feel cold inside? Oh! Did you feel like you were being electrocuted?"

"Tyrain, please. Leave him alone." Cinder sighed. These men that she worked with were insufferable.

"Relax Cinder, I just want to ask a few questions." The psychotic man waved her off. Before Gray could respond the doors to the room opened and revealed, Salem.

The woman was exactly what Cinder had described her to be and Gray couldn't lie and say that he wasn't intimated albeit slightly. The extremely unhealthily pale woman glided across the floor. Gray watched Cinder and the others stand up, completely straight, there was a hint of nervousness on all of their faces. Finally, Salem took her seat at the head of the table and everyone took their own, except Gray. The boy stood by Cinder, arms crossed and slightly annoyed that he didn't have a seat at the table.

"So, Cinder you've done what I've instructed. This is the boy you've been working on." All of this talk of him like he's some toy was starting to annoy the boy

"Yes, this is Gray. The last 'Beast' alive." Salem scanned Gray's face and arms noticing the various colors that would occasionally flow through them.

"Indeed, he is modified by Dust. Tell me, how'd you find the boy?"

"A man I was working with had informed me about Gray."

"Oh, did you consider to contact me and ask permission for such a task?" The Maiden's eyes widened in terror.

"I-I wasn't... thinking clearly at the time." Salem's evil red eyes narrowed as she menacingly stared at the nervous woman.

"You weren't thinking clearly? What would have happened if he declined? You would've told this stranger that you are trying to overthrow Vale. How could you have not have thought about this?" Although she seemed calm, Salem sounded furious. Just barely, Cinder could feel that familiar feeling that radiated from Salem. After her yelling, Salem turned to face Gray, her face changing from angered to the calm and controlled excitement. "So, although you weren't thinking 'clearly', you've gained a new 'toy'." As she said this, the sickly pale woman curled her finger and gestured Gray to come to her.

Slowly the boy moved along the table, seeing its inhabitants stare at him. Finally, he reached the side of Salem and waited for her to rise. The woman was noticeably shorter than the boy as she looked up to scan his face. She grabbed his chin and turns his face. "Oh, the Dust really is in your bloodstream." Each finger on her hand trailed each different colored vein. Blue, yellow, red etc. "Tell me, Gray. How does it feel to be the equivalent of a Maiden?" The boy stared into Salem's eyes. The two orbs were terrifying yet, absorbing.

"Empty. I feel hungry and empty for more." A barely seeable grin covers the woman's face.

"Is that so? Good. Having a need for something can leave to fantastic results." She then returned to her seat as Gray went to go to Cinder's side. "Stop." The boy stopped dead in his tracks. "Stay here, next to me. Cinder does not need you." The boy stayed by the intimating woman's side. "Now, Gray you broke into Atlas, correct?" A scoff across the table and Gray quickly stared at the man who made such a noise. However, Salem ignored the disrespectful act and waited for Gray's response.

"I guess you could say that although I was taken there unwillingly."

"Oh? Please explain." Cinder nervously moved her leg, unseen.

"During our attack on Beacon, a... friend of mine knocked me out and I was taken to Atlas, held prisoner for at least a few weeks."

"And Cinder couldn't stop whoever captured you?" Another annoyed glare was sent Cinder's way.

"No, but I believe she had bigger motives." The Maiden glanced at Gray's dull face, and easy facade to see if you knew the boy. "I believe she wanted to possibly make Atlas another target. So, why not send one of the worst terrorists there?" Salem stared at the boy, trying to see any sign of deception.

"Smart. Nicely done Cinder. You made one of the strongest continents afraid, and that's just what we need." The woman ignored Gray's shifting and continued her meeting. "Well, I must say Cinder, you not only became our Fall Maiden, but most important of all, you've gotten rid of that annoyance Ozpin, and you convinced a 'Beast' of turning on its own." The woman held her hands in front of her, resting her arms on the large table, barely hiding her evil smile. "Now I want to discuss a problem you experienced at Vale." Gray knew exactly who she was talking about.

"I know who you're talking about."

"Oh? Do tell." Salem was playing with him at this point, she knew he was friends with Ruby but she wanted him to admit it.

"Her name is Ruby Rose. I was friends with her at some point."

"Is she still alive? I'm generally curious about her."

Dreadfully, Gray answered. "Yeah. She's, she's still alive. But she's probably useless."

Cinder couldn't believe this. He… he… he lied to her. He didn't kill that little bitch that tore them away from each other for five weeks! Why was this Ruby Rose girl so special? Why isn't she dead yet? Why did Gray lie about her? Why did he care about her so much? What was so great about Ruby that made him lie to her? Why? She didn't understand… She stared at him with mixed and confused feelings. Did he trust her? For fuck sakes, did he even love her anymore?

"Ah, yes she's the silver eyed girl. You're lucky, Mr. Gray. She's still a novice. You're lucky she barely harmed you." Watts spoke up finally using Gray's name for once.

"We've dealt with her kind before. I thought the last one we took care of was the last." The large bear-like man growled as he spoke, Gray quickly thought the man was a Faunus.

"Apparently not. Well, Salem allow me to hunt the girl down. It will save us trouble for later." Tyrain offered.

"No Tyrian, we have better things to worry about then a young girl. I want you to continue your hunt for the Spring Maiden." The psycho sighed but agreed none the less. "Actually, I want everyone to continue what they're doing. However, I want this little girl found… and taken care of." Cinder raised her hand, gaining Salem's attention. "Speak Cinder."

"I could go after her, I want revenge." Gray sighed. Fuck, he didn't want to do this, he tried to make Ruby disappear. But the girl just kept bringing and causing trouble...

"No, Cinder. I'll kill Ruby." Cinder narrowed her eyes as the rest of the residents glared at the boy.

"How can we believe you? You were friends with this Ruby girl, what if you has a change of heart?" Watts wondered, adjusting himself as Gray laughed boringly at him.

"Are you this much of a pessimist?" Salem chuckled at Gray's remark before refocusing.

"Do I have your word, Gray? Will you take out this girl?" The boy stared at Salem, the look was dull and empty. He had made up his mind as soon as he spoke.

"You have my word." The boy nodded.

Ruby Rose had to die.

* * *

Seeing happiness in this world brought a smile to her face. It was rare that she brought the happiness, so seeing a village so happy was refreshing. Her group had found a small village on their journey and decided to assist them. After spending a day or two, the team did all they could, now they were running an errand for Jaune. As she waited, Ruby played with the kids of the town, giggling and smiling.

She hadn't felt like this in a long time. It felt great, to smile, to laugh, to be a kid. With Gray and Cinder around she couldn't truly do anything childish. After all, could a child save her broken friend? "Ruby!" A familiar voice shouted her name and gained her attention, pulling her away from her mixed thoughts.

"Yes, Uncle Qrow?" She asked looking up and away from the kids she was playing with, the kids were frightened by Qrow and hid behind Ruby, peeking to see the scary Hunter's face.

"It's about time to go. Say your goodbyes." Ruby frowned slightly but understood. She couldn't be distracted by every little town. As Qrow walked off Ruby turned around and faced the little kids.

"I'm sorry kids, but I have to leave." The little kids whined, bringing a smile to Ruby's face. She felt little hands cling to her and she looked down. The hands belonged to a small little girl.

"Are you coming back?" Other's joined in on the question, wanting the Hunter friend to come back.

"Aw, I'm sorry, I might not for a long while." It was heart wrenching, to see these kids all worked up over her. a few of them started to cry. The small girl clinging to her pulled on her clothes getting her attention. "Yes?"

"Wait here!" The girl then ran off and into her house, leaving Ruby to continue to say her goodbyes.

A few minutes pass and Ruby hugged each of the kids tightly, now all of them waited for the little girl to come back. And almost like she was never gone, the little girl had returned holding a bracelet. Ruby stared at it, it was adorable and very pretty. It wasn't something that you'd see at a store but you could tell that it was made with lots of care. The little girl offered the bracelet to Ruby, a small smile on her face.

"What is this?" The little Huntress asked.

"It's a bracelet my mom made for me. I want you to have it." Ruby gasped and shook her head.

"No, I couldn't take this. This was made for you." The little girl waved Ruby down so she could whisper in her hear.

"Miss Huntress, when my mom gave this to me, she told me that as long as I had this on me, it would protect me. And I want you to be safe. So please, Miss Huntress, take it." Ruby opened her mouth to refuse but, she looked into the girl's eyes and couldn't decline. So Ruby nodded and watched the girl slip the bracelet onto her wrist before jumping onto Ruby hugging her as tight as she could.

"Thank you. I'll cherish this. What's you name?"

"It's on the bracelet. Amynta." The girl giggled. Ruby smiled warmly, ruffling the girl's short black hair... Gray did that all the time with her.

"That's a beautiful name. Mine's Ruby. Ruby Rose." Amynta nodded.

"I'll remember you. No matter what I'll remember you, Miss Huntress!" The little girl ran off with her friends to the garden of the town, as they ran away they waved goodbye and smiled at Ruby, filling her heart with happiness. The girl waved back weakly before staring where they previously were. She felt an affectionate hand on her shoulder and turned left to see Jaune.

"Nice bracelet." Ruby laughed slowly, running her fingers along Amynta's inscribed name.

"Yeah..."

* * *

Cinder was furious. Gray had lied to her for a year about Ruby. What else could he be lying about? Did he truly love her? "Gray, please answer me!" The boy had tried to ignore her for the past hour but now it was finally getting to him. "Why did you lie about her?"

"I don't know, it was just instinct." 'Instinct?!'

"What? Your instinct was to lie to me?!" Cinder was on the brink of tears now. "Tell me what's so special about her?! Huh? Why is she so special?! Why is she so important to you?!"

"Cin..."

"Don't 'Cin' me! Tell me now damn it!" On the inside, Cinder was becoming nervous. She was stepping out of line and she could see Gray becoming annoyed but she couldn't relax damn it. At this point, the woman was in Gray's face. "Tell me!"

" **Cinder**!" The boy shoved her, with unexpected rage and strength. The woman hit a wall and she hit it hard. Cinder then realized her mistake. The boy then grabbed her wrists, beyond angry. " **You need to shut the fuck up**!" Cinder pulled her face away anticipating something to strike her. She knew that he was holding himself back, grabbing her wrists? That was nothing. But the tight vice-like burning hands were hurting, she tried to force the pain down but, she continued to wince and even whimpering.

"I'm sorry..." She whimpered. Oh, Gray's hand was burning with heat to hit... something. He dropped the woman and cooled down, teeth returning to normal and his only wolf-like ear on top of his head vanished in his hair. The boy pulled away, dropping Cinder to the floor.

"I-" He panted. It almost happened again... The boy backed away from Cinder, falling onto their bed. "I-"

Cinder was terrified, it almost happened...

Again.

The Maiden didn't know what was really going on in Gray's head, she knew that he's unstable and not in the right state of mind. But she forgot that he had basically two in his head. She had to do something, this was her lover, a boy that she cared deeply for was struggling, shuddering. The woman slowly rose, ignoring her slightly burned wrists. "Gray?" The boy sighed. She removed Gray's hands from his face, seeing his tear-stricken face, she could tell that he was sorry. "Hey, look at me. You can tell me when you want to. Okay?" She embraced the boy, albeit awkwardly. The boy was silent.

'I almost hit her... again...' Why? Why was he like this? His father never hit his wife yet... here he was, singeing Cinder like she was food. He couldn't say anything last time he hit her was... he didn't want to think about it. Why did she stay with him? Striking her? Surely, she would have left him a long time ago, right? Is it love? Was her 'love' for him making her stay? Does she think she can fix him? The boy mentally rolled his eyes. 'Try and fix me?' One thing the boy learned a long time ago was this:

You can't fix a broken mirror.

* * *

She should be asleep by now. 'Gray, I'm almost there buddy.' _"Ruby! Give me my eyepatch!"_ Gray 'yelled'. Ruby held her Scroll in her lap as she sat on a branch of a large tree. She was watching old videos she took back when she was in Beacon. This one, in particular, was when Ruby stole Gray's eyepatch and he was forced to walk around with a washcloth covering his eye. She smiled as the video ended with Gray flicking her in the forehead, causing her to drop her Scroll. Ruby navigated her Scroll looking through pictures, some of them including Gray hugging Ruby, others with her and Weiss or her sister, and a few with all of them altogether. One stood out from all the others.

The image made her smiled half-heartedly. "I should message Weiss. But will she respond?" Ruby's little crush on Weiss didn't go away in the slightest and the occasional mirage of the platinum blonde was always around, at the corner of Ruby's eye, hiding.

The little leader missed her so. Something about the heiress just made her… she didn't even know how she felt. Maybe her brain couldn't fully comprehend what she feels. The leader stared at the picture of a slightly blushing Weiss yelling and pointing an accusing finger at c the camera. Ruby's finger shook with nervousness. She blinked and looked up and away from the Scroll briefly. In front of her was Weiss, still looking down, her feet swinging back and forth. "W-Weiss?" The girl in question looked up as if she heard the little leader tiny plea. The heiress turned to Ruby, the latter seeing the familiar yet haunting 'G'. And just as Ruby blinked, she was gone. Ruby sighed, her whole body shuddering as she held her head. Is she in the right set of mind for this? She couldn't go back now, but how could she save Gray if she was crazy too? The girl thought about it for what seemed like hours, but the thought process was broken quickly by a faint grunt.

The girl looked up, hearing them not too far. She looked down, seeing everyone asleep, but the resident blonde was missing. Quietly, the girl jumped off the tree, slowly stepping into the snow, thank goodness for her boots. The yells were getting louder, and it wasn't long till she saw Jaune. He was practicing and using Dust. It was odd. "Jaune?" The boy jumped and stood his stance, ready to attack.

"Ruby?" He relaxed, his blade resting in the dirt. "You should be asleep."

"So should you? Why are you practicing? With Dust of all things." Jaune looked away briefly. Ruby looked around, silver eyes, spotting his scroll. On it was... a mugshot of Gray, and a list of Dust that he uses, and which he's known best for.

"Ruby, I'm just making sure I'm ready to defend myself and you guys. Knowing what to do when he uses Dust could save us."

"Hopefully it won't have to come to that." Jaune smiled weakly.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it won't. Now go back to sleep." Ruby rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah I'm not a kid, Jaune." Ruby then walked away, returning to her tree branch. Once Jaune was sure she was gone he sighed, his form shrinking from the exhale. He was nervous for her, could Gray really change after all this? He hoped that Ruby was telling the truth, that Gray had signs of regret. The boy shook his head. Gray wasn't his goal, it was Cinder. The boy grabbed his Scroll, scrolling through images and videos before finding the one he wanted. He opened it and placed the Scroll down on a log so he could see it.

 _"Alright Jaune, just like we practiced. And... begin."_


	4. Chapter 4

"What are we going to do about this Ruby, problem?" Cinder asked twirling a finger in her ponytail styled hair. She knew that Gray wasn't really paying attention to her, but this was the best way to get him going. "Gray?" She turned to him and saw the boy staring out the window. He watched rain pour down with great interest. "Gray…" She rested her hand on top of his and felt it heat up.

"I'm fine." The boy turned to look at her. "I was thinking of what to say. That, and…" He nodded his head to the front of the car, and Cinder followed to see their driver. It was a 'goon' of sorts and Cinder laughed quietly.

"Gray, it's safe to talk. He does work for us." The boy shook his head, a small smile on his lips.

"I guess. I think she's still recovering from everything."

"Her wounds?" The boy shook his head.

"No, Ruby most likely healed from all that. I'm talking about mentally."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Cin, if your fifteen, just seen people get slaughtered in front of you, find your team shattered and nearly get killed and violated by your old friend how would you feel?"

"I don't know."

"Exactly. And don't forget when I visited her, that probably didn't help her in the slightest. After all that time, I'm sure her father brought her back to her house. All we need is to head there and, kill her." Gray balled his hand, and Cinder tightened her grip.

"It's okay."

"No, I don't trust myself. I want people to go there and… do the job." Cinder thought about who. People she could trust, somewhat. The woman sighed.

"I think I know just the people. But…" The boy flipped his hand, lacing his fingers with hers. He frowned when she slightly pulled away as a reaction before accepting the gesture.

"But?"

"One of them is…" This is so awkward.

"Spit it out Cin." Right when he was bringing back this nickname too…

"One of them is, um, is my ex…" The boy turned away from the window and stared at Cinder confused.

"Are you serious?" The boy snickered slightly amused. "Who's the guy?" Cinder sighed again, slightly trying to peel her hand away. "Cinder."

"It isn't a he, Gray." With that, Gray burst into laughter. "What's so funny?"

"Ah, your fucking with me." Cinder shook her head.

"No, in fact, she's one of the select few who can inject Dust into them." The boy sighed.

"This just gets cheesier and cheesier huh?" Cinder giggled and smiled, staring at the boy. She held his face rubbing his cheek with her thumb. She missed being able to do this. To just hold him. "Well, ex or not… **you** are, **mine**. Got that?" Oh, she missed being told that she's his the most. She ignored the deepening of his voice, too distracted by words.

"Yes. Yours and yours alone." Cinder leaned in slowly, lips ready. Abruptly a hand lightly gripped the back of her head almost gently, causing her to gasp. She couldn't even squeak as a reaction, probably by Gray kissing her powerfully.

The woman's eyes were surprised before she tried to lean into it, feeling his tongue invade her mouth, there was no point in playing tongue-vs-tongue, Gray always won anyways. So, the woman sat there, submissive, thus was her new role. She had to quickly abandon the role of being dominant, her lover stole that immediately and effectively. She tried to keep her voice down, they weren't alone, the Maiden was surprised honestly.

It was a rare treasure to have her lover so affectionate in public, his obsession with showing her that he loved the Maiden had disappeared lately.

Finally, Gray pulled away leaving Cinder's mouth open, ready for anything else. "We're here. Let's go meet your ex." Blinking a few times the woman returned to reality and left behind her thoughts and blissful ignorance. Gray and Cinder climbed out of the car finding Adam's little hideout.

It actually was fairly impressive, Mistral gave out more freedom than Vale ever offered. You could say that the hideout looked like a military fort of sorts but without any type of walls. In short the 'hideout' was basically a large campus on the outskirts of Mistral.

"They should be here." The boy followed his Maiden, taking in the sight of the growth the White Fang had. 'They still do dirty work.' The two both tried to make haste, neither of them wanting to stay in the horrible weather. Walking through the 'campus' the two walked into one of the few buildings the White Fang had in possession. The woman looked around the buildings entrance, looking a little lost.

"Know where your going?" Gray asked, staring at the Maiden. Said woman rolled her eyes and walked ahead, her lover behind.

* * *

The tour was okay, mediocre even. It was good to see the White Fang make progress but, honesty Gray used them for more Dust. The White Fang were being used anyways, and if they knew it or not things won't change. Finally, Cinder led the boy to where his little group of murders would be held. Opening the door to a hallway the two ran into the White Fang leader. "Adam." Cinder spoke smiling barely.

"Cinder. I see you brought Gray here. Showing him around?" The woman hummed, nodding.

"That and he wants to meet the first successors of his little project." The boy sighed.

"Just 'cause I was the first, doesn't mean it's 'my' project." Cinder rolled her eyes.

"Well, you want to see them right? We still have them in there little room. Follow me." The three proceeded down the hallway, somewhat silent. "Kath has been talking about you nonstop, it's starting to become annoying." Out of nowhere, Gray grabbed Cinder's hand, tightening the grip. Inside Cinder grinned, returning the squeeze. The three stopped at a four-way, Adam pointing straight ahead. "Just keep going and turn left, they'll be in there." Cinder thanked him and the man walked off, leaving the two once again Cinder taking the lead.

"This place is like a damn maze." Gray mumbled, smiling a little when Cinder giggled.

"You're not wrong." Silence filled the hallway, safe for the squeaks Cinder's boots made. As the two turned left as they were instructed, Cinder slowed down as they reached the room. "Gray let me go in first."

"Why?"

"So I can talk to them into what they're going to do."

"If they're murders and criminals then they should be prepared for this stuff. Are they four?"

"No, dummy. Just wait out here for a few minutes." She kissed his cheek and walked into the room, while Gray stood there. Inside he could here one woman shout at Cinder's presence, it annoyed him. 'She's mine damn it.' The boy's right hand began to heat up. 'Relax. Just show that woman that Cin is yours and that she can't take her from you.'

"Cinder! Come to visit us?" The voice seemed goofy but held a smooth elegant feel to it.

"Yes, Kath. Mainly because I have someone you're going to meet." 'Still straight to the point with others.'

"Oh? Who are they?" Another woman asked, this one more high pitched than the other.

"Boss?" A man groaned, by the voice, Gray could easily tell that he doesn't talk much, if not at all.

"Who knows Ivan." The first woman spoke. "But Cinder it's good to see you again. Wait, what's up with your wrists?"

"Nothing Katherine! I just burned them is all."

"Are you sur-"

"Yes. Yes I'm sure. Gray you can come in now." Hearing his cue, the boy walked into the surprisingly spacious room. Inside was Cinder and from just an educated guess, the woman that was squeezing her was her ex. Besides Cinder and her ex, there was a third woman, a large man and another male, asleep on his bed in the corner. Cinder peeled the other woman off of her and stared gravitated towards Gray introducing him.

"The Burning Beast huh? So this is your little boyfriend Cinder?" The woman said, folding her arms. Her eyes were a fiery orange and the scanned every inch of Gray and then to Cinder. The boy stared back, mostly into the woman's eye, it wasn't natural… mostly by the fact that the iris' seemed to burn and flicker like a fire. The woman then smiled, removing her arms from their positions. "It's nice to meet you Gray! I'm Katherine." That voice seemed to fit her, although her outfit was a little strange.

It was purely a orange and white bodysuit, it clung to her body and gave almost no imagination, everything was basically there but without much detail, if any. The woman had blonde hair and in it was small fox ears. Her smile seemed genuine and it confused Gray. "Nice to meet you."

"Gray, Katherine and her team were one of Roman best 'operators'."

"They seem dysfunctional." Katherine laughed.

"Yeah, well dysfunctional or not. We get the job done, and with this Dust you injected, we'll be able to do anything." The fox Faunus then shook her head, getting out of a trance. "Oh! I should introduce everyone else." Gray hit it right on the ballpark with describing Katherine. "This kitten is-"

"Kath, I can talk for myself. I'm Nyla Taewang. And this man is Ivan Rex." The man next to her nodded. Nyla had strange blue eyes, extremely light blue like neon. She dressed normally, an open white windbreaker and light jeans, strange.

"Hi." The man groaned. Katherine then pointed to the man sleeping.

"That guy is Grant Kaiser. And that makes up my little squad!" Cinder smiled inwardly, but she quick retained focus.

"Gray, want to explain your little mission to them?" That sounded harsher then it should and that scared Cinder. The boy sighed.

"I want you four to kill an old friend of mine. Turns out she's more of a problem than we thought, and important people want her dead." Katherine nodded, sitting in a chair as she listened.

"Okay, sounds reasonable enough. But what's in it for us?" 'Yes, of course, the catch.'

"The satisfaction of using your Dust enhancements to do whatever you want. As long as that girl is dead I don't care what you do to her." The blonde fox frowned for a second before smiling brightly.

"Deal!" The blonde grabbed Gray's hand and forcefully shook it. "Now what is this 'old friend's' name and what do they look like?" The boy grabbed his scroll and gave it to Katherine, he didn't use it anymore anyways.

"Her name is Ruby Rose. All her information should be on that." Katherine opened the boy's scroll and found a picture of Ruby smiling and somewhat posing into the picture. She then pulled up more stuff about Ruby.

"Sixteen? A little young wouldn't you say?" Nyla scoffed glancing at the beastly terrorist.

"Look it shouldn't matter. Just get it done." Katherine nodded.

"Gotcha. We'll have her taken care this week, we'll head to her place in a day or two." The boy nodded, the stress of worrying to kill Ruby was gone, but something was still on his shoulders…

"Good. Cin, we can head out now."

"Hmm? We're not staying?"

"No, I want to go home. This rain is terrible for me."

"Oh! That makes sense. Let's leave then." Cinder then faced Gray's murder squad. "Good luck, Kath, Nyla, and Ivan."

"We won't need it Cin-der." Katherine said, remembering to add the rest of Cinder's name. The Maiden wasn't her's anymore.

"Farewell, you two." Nyla bowed.

"Bye." Ivan waved, sitting on his bed. After the goodbyes, Gray and Cinder left the White Fang base, speed walking to the car they came from and returning to its safety from the rain. The driver started the car and pulled off, heading back to the duo's home.

* * *

Ruby opened her eyes, seeing familiar ice blue eyes peer into hers. Jumping as a reaction, Ruby nearly fell off the branch she was resting on. As Ruby regained her balance, Weiss stared at her with her familiar look. Ruby scanned the girl, the heiress was in the exact same outfit that she was in when she left the Atlas hospital that they were staying in.

Still as good looking as Weiss could be, by that being a lot. Ruby blinked for only a second, just so she could continue to stare at the heiress, but right when her eyelids flew open the heiress was gone. Ruby sighed, she had been seeing Weiss more and more, and she knew it wasn't the real thing and she really knew that it wasn't healthy.

Jumping off the branch Ruby looked around to find the others, finding nothing but their makeshift fire. "Guys?" Ruby looked around a little anxious until she heard her uncle's voice.

"Over here!" Ruby jogged to the sound eventually seeing her friends and family members. The dark smoke around them quickly drawer a conclusion in Ruby's head.

"Found some Grimm?" She asked adjusting her bag on her back.

"Yep. While you were snoozing we took care of them. You're a heavy sleeper." Nora said with a smile.

"Yeah, I was a little distracted." Ruby shrugged trying to ignore the distant heiress staring at a decaying corpse.

"Well, you're here now. Let's keep walking, we still have ways to go." Qrow said walking ahead of the others. Ruby and Jaune stayed behind, just enough to where Nora and Ren weren't too close.

"Ruby, do you have a clue on what you're going to do with Gray?"

"A little. I mean, I feel like he's being kept. I want to take him away from Cinder and bring back is old self. Qrow told us about what's going on in his head, his judgements are all messy. Maybe, um, maybe I can fix him." Jaune sighed.

"That's a lot of maybes Ruby."

"Well, you'll have to trust me. Whoever is in Mistral is not Gray."

"I hope your right Ruby." Jaune stayed silent afterward.

What was Ruby going to do about Gray? She jogged to Qrow and kept her pace with him. "Uncle Qrow?"

"Yes, Ruby?"

"You said that Gray isn't himself right? That something is messing with his head?"

"That's right. And now that he's surrounded by Cinder and Salem, it's going to be pretty hard to try and help him." Ruby nodded.

"I'm sure we can do something." Qrow glanced at his niece, smiling. But he then scanned her face.

Her hair was slightly disheveled like she stopped caring about it, she had bags under her eyes and within those eyes was nervousness and unhealthy awareness. The girls eyes would glance at a spot before relaxing, and after she blinked she searched for whatever she was looking at again, repeating the process. Ruby carried herself unnaturally too. The girl was more slouched and seemed paranoid. It scared Qrow badly, this was tearing his niece apart.

This madness needed to end sooner or later.

* * *

The ride back 'home' was a little unnerving for Cinder. She didn't know how Gray felt about Katherine. Honestly, she was a little surprised that he didn't burst and throw one million questions at her, well, Gray wasn't really like that anymore. She hoped things went well for him. The woman continued to stare out and into her window, lightly tapping her fingers on her thigh rhythmically. "Hey, Cin." Gray spoke out randomly, causing the woman to lightly jump.

"Yes, Gray?"

"How'd you meet Katherine? Honestly, I didn't even know you were bi. Never really expected it."

"Well, we worked together for a while and jumped into a relationship of sorts. I had to break ties off, she was becoming insufferable." Gray chuckled turning to the Maiden.

"'Insufferable'? Who do you think your living with?" Cinder laughed quietly staring at her lover.

"You toned it down a bit. That, and honestly you were more entertaining than her." Gray rolled his eye.

"Bull crap."

"It's true. Although don't tell that to her."

"My lips are sealed." Gray drew a line over his lips with his fingers, making Cinder laugh again. The car they were in slowly came to a stop and the two stepped out of the car and into the rain. Cinder made haste to their small abode, while Gray made his way at his own pace. Cinder ran inside and left the door open for Gray, who walked into shortly after. Cinder took off her jacket hanging it in it's on spot due to how saturated it was from rain.

Meanwhile, Gray shed his own jacket it having no sense of precipitation on it, neither was there any form of water in his hair. Cinder sighed, a small amount of jealousy in her. "You sure we can trust Katherine to do the task?" Cinder stretched walking down the hallway to change.

"I'm sure. Katherine is more than capable of killing that brat." Something in Gray made him feel angry about how Cinder worded that, but he'll let it slide. The boy grabbed a bottle of water, opened it and followed Cinder shortly after.

Within their bed room, Cinder slipped into yet another shirt of Gray's. "I guess I have to wait and see." Gray mumbled sitting on the king sized bed. Cinder turned to him smiling lightly as she joined him on sitting on the side of their spacious bed.

"I'm sure you'll see good results." The Maiden said as she ran her fingers up and down, Gray's arm. Her ghostly fingers sent small chills down Gray's arm. The boy then reached out, pulling Cinder into a one armed hug.

"Gray, I missed this." She said nuzzling a little deeper into the boy. The boy exhaled through his nose.

"Yeah, I haven't been the greatest lover huh?" Cinder shrugged Gray's arm off and turned to the boy, moving more into the bed. She then turned his face and smiled.

"Things haven't been great but, it'll get better. I love you." She kissed his cheek and smiled. "What's wrong?"

"Do you regret anything? Do you regret me?"

"Absolutely not."

"Even with what I've done?" He asked, staring at Cinder's forearms, he burns that he made. It made him sick.

"Even with that. I know that's not you, you aren't easily agitated, your always smiling and laughing but you haven't been like that lately." Cinder looked away for a second reconvening her thoughts. "But you're coming back to me. That barbaric side of you is easing up."

"You mean my true self?"

"Gray, the true you is who you think is in control. So, who's in control? Gray, my lover? Or is it the unstable, uncontrollable Burning Beast that's in control?" Gray looked away from Cinder unable to respond. "Just think about that. I'm sure I know which one is in control." Cinder pushed the boy down and laid down with him raking fingers through his hair to calm him.

How can Cinder be so supportive? From what he's done to her… Gray remembered very few times that he hurt her, all of it was because he was losing control.

He needed help, at some point he's going to kill her on accident. But who would help a terrorist? Salem perhaps but he didn't trust her so blindly like the others. The White Fang can't do shit for him, they barely understand what he even is let alone the whole 'two sides' dilemma. If others could help then he'll have to help himself.


End file.
